“No… not like that,” she commands. In her mind, she lives in an organised world. I raise my eyebrows at her and smile. I like her and her organised ways. She widens her eyes then takes a handful of LEGO DUPLO bricks into her small cherub-caricature hands.

Every preschooler learns through play. There are so many ways to play.

Over the past few months, my almost three year old daughter, Miss K has displayed a big interest in constructing with LEGO DUPLO. She loves building at home and at daycare.

Here’s a snippet of documentation from her daycare: “This particular morning she sat down with Ms Preschool Teacher and started to construct. She kept building and building. “Look” she said to Ms Preschool Teacher. “It’s a tower,” she continued proudly and held up her tower so Ms Preschool Teacher could see. “So lovely,” Ms Preschool Teacher replied. Ms Preschool Teacher then began to ask questions about the colours that Miss K had been using. She was able to name all colours.

The documentation continues: In this experience Miss K demonstrated her creativity through construction of the tower. Through her sustained engagement we understand that she feels safe and supported- she feeling comfortable to explore for a longer amount of time. Furthermore, in the experience she used her fine motor skills and displayed her knowledge of colours.

Here, we see the beautiful embodiment of play-based learning. Rather than the teacher being the ‘expert’ who is required to fill children’s knowledge stores as if they are empty vessels, we see the child having the potential to learn complex concepts at any age.

LEGO DUPLO: So Many Ways to Play

Imagine my delight when we received a LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure Pack to review and give away! We’re big fans of LEGO DUPLO, and being parents who watch Comic Book Men, it’s not surprising that our children are relatively well versed in the Batman Universe. 

Build Stories & Make Adventures

When I placed the Lego Duplo Batcave Adventure box on the floor next to our giant cardboard box, as an invitation to play, I honestly thought because it was LEGO DUPLO, only Miss K (who is almost 3) and possibly Mr E ( who is 4), would be interested.

Boy, was I wrong. It didn’t take long for Mr M and N (who are 6) to scramble onto the floor to join in the play. Although I hadn’t expected or planned for Mr M and Mr N to be play with LEGO DUPLO, Mr M and Mr N were obviously motivated to join in, build stories and make adventures… so I let them be, and they all played together.

Play & Discover

Miss K was fascinated with the canon on the Batwing. Let them play and discover. She figured out how to load the canon but got stuck with how to fire it. She asked me to help her fire the canon. I showed her once, and that was all it took for her to spend the next good 15 minutes just firing the canon and loading it – over, and over, and over again. I love how LEGO DUPLO is specifically designed to be fun and safe for younger hands.

Create & Share

Being twins, Mr M and N (now 6) they have had, for better or worse, more than their share of chances to work and collaborate with each other. Let them create and share. There were squabbles about how to build certain parts. I generally leave them be and let them sort things out. If the frustration levels start to get a bit much and accusations become painfully whiny, I step in with my suggestions or observations of the situation. (The number of times the words, “I think the missing part is under the book,” has solved many squabbles is unbelievable!)

LEGO DUPLO Batman Adventure Giveaway

If you’re after a gift for preschoolers (or older), LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure is a winner. It’s fun, has easy to use gadgets for younger hands and offers loads of different ways to play for quite a wide age range; Miss K (almost 3) and her brothers Mr N and Mr M (who are 6) spent a good afternoon playing together (while I made dinner… priceless!).

To celebrate the importance of play, we are delighted to have one LEGO DUPLO Batcave Adventure to give away to one of our lovely readers.

For a chance to win, in the comments below, tell me “How does your child play with LEGO DUPLO?”. The competition is open to Australian residents and closes 5pm (AEDST) on the 27th October, 2014 . Please note the terms and conditions of the giveaway.

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